Chapter 26: The Shadows of Interwoven Fate

Lin Han's breathing was erratic, his consciousness forcefully dragged into an abyss beyond his control. Before him, a distorted altar emerged from the void, bathed in the flickering glow of crimson flames. Shadowy figures moved within the swirling darkness, their murmurs forming an eerie symphony of whispers that wrapped around his mind like invisible tendrils.

He clenched his eyes shut, desperately trying to dispel the hallucination, but the whispers only grew clearer—insidious, relentless, like venomous serpents burrowing into his thoughts.

"Fate is never a coincidence."

The voice was deep, reverberating with a strange resonance that sent chills down his spine. Lin Han swallowed hard, but the dryness in his throat remained, as did the eerie paralysis that held his body in place.

"You think you are merely an outsider?"

From the blurred reality, a hooded figure slowly approached, its presence warping the very fabric of space. The temperature around him plummeted, and the ground beneath his feet rippled like the surface of disturbed water. Time itself seemed to shudder under an unknown force.

Panic surged through Lin Han as he struggled against the invisible chains binding him, but the suffocating pressure only intensified, as if reality itself was being rewritten.

Then—suddenly—his right eye seared with unbearable pain. A golden light erupted from within, slicing through the darkness like a celestial blade.

Hiss—!

A shattering sound echoed within his mind, like ancient chains snapping apart. Lin Han's body convulsed violently as an unfamiliar yet hauntingly familiar flood of memories surged into his consciousness.

"…This isn't the first time."

The golden radiance illuminated the altar, revealing the figures kneeling in silent reverence. Their faces were obscured, but on each of their foreheads was an intricate mark—an emblem etched by an unseen force.

And then—one of them lifted their head.

It was a face…identical to his own.

Lin Han's breath caught in his throat, an icy dread slithering down his spine.

"What… is this?"

The mirror image of himself curled its lips into an enigmatic smile.

"The endgame has already begun."

A deafening rupture split the air. The entire space shattered like fractured glass—

—Lin Han's eyes flew open, his body jerking as he found himself once again standing inside the Snake Temple. The rhythmic patter of rain dripped from the eaves, as if none of what he had just witnessed had been real.

But as he lowered his gaze, his right hand trembled slightly. The strange sigil on his skin continued to shift and pulse, as though it were… alive.

The night was ink-black, and rainwater trickled down the temple walls, carrying an indescribable stillness. Inside the Snake Temple, the incense had not yet burned out, and the curling smoke seemed to twist and writhe like a living thing.

Lin Han lowered his gaze to his right hand. The eerie markings on his skin pulsed faintly, shifting as if trying to burrow deeper into his flesh. Each pulse sent an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar energy seeping into his veins.

"What... is this?"

His voice was barely audible, but Su Xueqing still caught it. Her gaze darkened as her eyes lingered on his hand. She seemed to realize something, but chose to remain silent.

"Oi, are you okay?" Noya's voice cut through the silence, her brows furrowed with clear concern and wariness.

Lin Han lifted his head, glancing at Noya, Su Xueqing, and the distant figure of Shruti. Their expressions bore the same silent message—they all sensed that something was wrong.

A faint sandalwood scent lingered in the air, but beneath it was another aroma—one that was sickly sweet, an unsettling premonition of an ancient ritual on the verge of awakening.

"We can't stay here too long." Su Xueqing finally broke the silence, her tone heavy. "The spiritual field here is too chaotic. Even the geomantic veins are beginning to distort."

She raised her fingers and traced an intricate rune in the air. But just as the symbol took form, it was violently torn apart by an unseen force, vanishing into nothingness.

Lin Han's pupils shrank.

"Even talismans can't hold?"

Su Xueqing nodded slowly, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. "Something in this place is waking up."

Before her words could settle, the ground beneath them trembled violently!

The entire Snake Temple seemed to convulse under an invisible force. The stone serpents on the walls began to shift, their carved eyes glowing with an eerie green light. A whispering sound slithered through the temple, countless unseen tongues flicking at the edges of perception.

A cold shiver ran down Lin Han's spine.

Then, the voice returned—the one that coiled into his bones, whispering into the deepest recesses of his mind.

"The end has come… The cycle begins anew…"

He clutched his ears, desperate to shut it out, but the murmurs only grew clearer.

"Twin serpents… entwined…"

"Devouring the wheel of fate…"

"You… are already the offering."

At that moment, every candle in the temple simultaneously extinguished. Darkness swallowed everything whole.